Municipal foreigners and integration officers are advocates for foreigners in the region and stand up for their rights. This results in a mediating function between foreigners and authorities and also between the German population. For reasons of integration policy, the municipal commissioners for foreigners and integration are now responsible for all people with a migration background who require integration assistance and are perceived by the population as immigrants or foreigners. The commissioners themselves have no right to issue directives. Cooperation with the offices and authorities is based on trust.

They deal with inquiries from the domestic and foreign population on questions concerning foreigners and advise individuals on related issues, insofar as these cannot be solved or dealt with by counseling centers of the independent institutions. They counteract unjustified unequal treatment insofar as it affects foreigners.

The commissioners for foreigners and integration are contact persons for social groups (associations, churches, trade unions, social associations, foreigners' advisory councils) and perform coordinating tasks for them. The tasks they perform are voluntary services provided by the local authority within the framework of local self-government. Legal requirements only refer to the protection of trust, which is necessary for their work with this group of people. Foreigners' and integration officers are only obliged to provide information about this group of people if this does not jeopardize the fulfillment of their own tasks.